Honeybee_ Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper - C. Marina Marchese [72]
BLOOMS: March.
BOTANICAL NAME: Vaccinium corymbosum
COMMON NAMES: Highbush berry.
PROVENANCE: Eastern United States, especially Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, but also Michigan, Oregon, Washington, and Canada.
TERRIOR: Requires moist, acidic soil and full to partial sun.
HONEY COLOR: Cloudy, light amber.
TASTING NOTES: Buttery and smooth texture. Fruity with hints of green leaves and fresh lemon. Granulates quickly into large crystals.
PAIRINGS: Mix into vanilla yogurt with chopped walnuts and sliced fresh bananas. Drizzle over sour cream coffee cake or crumb cake.
BLUE CURLS
10. BLUE CURLS
PLANT CHARACTERISTICS: Strong evergreen herb with aromatic green leaves. Blue, densely clustered flowers with loden green pollen.
BLOOMS: August to first frost.
BOTANICAL NAME: Trichostema lanatum
COMMON NAMES: Woolly blue curls, Romero, California rosemary, American wild rosemary.
PROVENANCE: Native to California’s Fresno and ventura counties.
TERRIOR: Well-drained, dry slopes and plains of the coastal regions. Requires full sun.
HONEY COLOR: Extra light yellow-amber to milky white.
TASTING NOTES: Minty, fruity flavor. Granulates quickly and smoothly.
PAIRINGS: Drizzle over goat cheese and cashews, and serve with merlot or Riesling. Add to glaze for lamb or lemon chicken. Used in honey butter.
11. BONESET
PLANT CHARACTERISTICS: A medicinal herb with white or purple clusters of flowers; aromatic leaves.
BLOOMS: Late July to October, at the same time as goldenrod, sunflowers, and aster, making pure boneset honey difficult to harvest.
BOTANICAL NAME: Eupatorium perfoliatum
COMMON NAMES: Thoroughwort, Indian sage, agueweed, joe-pye, wild sage. (Boneset refers to the superstitious practice of wrapping the leaves inside bandages to set broken bones.)
PROVENANCE: Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Florida.
TERRIOR: Swamps, low damp areas, and pastures.
HONEY COLOR: Very dark reddish amber.
TASTING NOTES: Rank in aroma, but a mellow, herbal, sagelike flavor. Thick, heavy, molasseslike texture.
PAIRINGS: Drizzle over Roquefort cheese on sweet crackers, and serve with champagne, prosecco, or Riesling. Mix with chopped pistachios and roughly chopped fresh cranberries as a glaze for venison.
12. BORAGE
PLANT CHARACTERISTICS: A hardy herb with brilliant blue flowers in loose clusters and with gray pollen. Leaves are silvery, fuzzy, and coarse.
BLOOMS: April to October in North America and November to March in New Zealand.
BOTANICAL NAME: Borago officinalis
COMMON NAMES: Viper bugloss, blue borage, starflower, Soagem, borragine, bourrache, borraja.
PROVENANCE: A plant new to America but common in the United Kingdom and the Clarence valley in Central Marlborough, New Zealand.
TERRIOR: Dry wasteland; grows wild in arid areas. Prefers rich soil and full sun.
HONEY COLOR: Medium to dark amber, with a gray tinge.
TASTING NOTES: Herbal and floral bouquet with hints of cucumber and orange pekoe tea. Sugary aftertaste. Delicate and silky texture. Slow to crystallize.
PAIRINGS: Spread over scones and biscuits. Mix into dressings for green and fruit salads. Stir into herbal teas.
13. BUCKWHEAT
PLANT CHARACTERISTICS: An annual herb that is cultivated for flour and is also an important honey plant. The small, fragrant, clustered red flowers secrete nectar early in the morning, and the bees work it intensely, then become very cross in the afternoon when nectar flow ceases.
BLOOMS: Spring until summer.
BOTANICAL NAME: Fagopyrum esculentum
COMMON NAMES: Grano saraceno, sarrasin, trigo sarraceno.
PROVENANCE: Mainly grown in New york, Pennsylvania, California, Minnesota, Virginia, Michigan, Washington, Ohio, Wisconsin, and eastern Canada. Native to Asia.
TERRIOR: Grows best in cool, moist climates, preferring light and well-drained